Summary Of Joe Sharkey S Death Sentence

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The night of the murders, Pat was brought in by the police and taken home by her father. She was frightened of her father, who did not speak to her that night. He had almost completely stopped speaking to his daughter several months earlier, after he had told her he strongly disapproved of her friends, her attitude, and her desire to have a career in the theater. #2 John’s behavior had become abusive towards his daughter, Pat. He would insult her and call her names, based on her developing sexuality. He would turn the radio up loud to drown out her music. #3 John had a large collection of military-strategy board games, low-tech precursors to virtual reality war games. He had a calendar marked in November 1971, three weeks before he killed his wife and daughter, that he wanted to augment his ongoing defense against a tormenting world with a surprise attack. #4 John List had a difficult time playing the role of father to his daughter, Brenda, because he didn’t like fish. He would take her and her brother to fish on the Saginaw River, though, and he would rent tackle and a couple of folding chairs to sit and fish beside a hole cut through the ice.

The true account of the man who murdered his family in their New Jersey mansion—and eluded a nationwide manhunt for eighteen years. Until 1971, life was good for mild-mannered accountant John List. He was vice president of a Jersey City bank and had moved his mother, wife, and three teenage children into a nineteen-room home in Westfield, New Jersey. But all that changed when he lost his job. Raised by his Lutheran father to believe success meant being a good provider, List saw himself as an utter failure. Straining under financial burdens, the stress of hiding his unemployment, as well as the fear that the free-spirited 1970s would corrupt the souls of his children, List came to a shattering conclusion. “It was my belief that if you kill yourself, you won’t go to heaven,” List told Connie Chung in a television interview. “So eventually I got to the point where I felt that I could kill them. Hopefully they would go to heaven, and then maybe I would have a chance to later confess my sins to God and get forgiveness.” List methodically shot his entire family in their home, managing to conceal the deaths for weeks with a carefully orchestrated plan of deception. Then he vanished and started over as Robert P. Clark. Chronicling List’s life before and after the grisly crime, Death Sentence exposes the truth about the accountant-turned-killer, including his revealing letter to his pastor, his years as a fugitive with a new name—and a new wife—his eventual arrest, and the details of his high-profile trial. Revised and updated, this ebook also includes photos.

From the author of Above Suspicion: The “riveting” true story of Charles Stuart, who murdered his pregnant wife and pinned the crime on a black man in 1980s Boston (Kirkus Reviews). On October 23, 1989, affluent businessman Charles Stuart made a frantic 911 call from his car to report that he and his seven-months-pregnant wife, Carol, a lawyer, had been robbed and shot by a black male in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston. By the time police arrived, Carol was dead, and the baby was soon lost as well. The attack incited a furor during a time of heightened racial tension in the community. Even more appalling, while the injuries were real, Stuart’s story was a hoax: He was the true killer. But the tragedy would continue with the arrest of Willie Bennett, a young man Stuart identified in a line-up. Stuart’s deception would only be exposed after a shocking revelation from his brother and, finally, his suicide, when he jumped into the freezing waters of the Mystic River. As the story unraveled, police would put together the disturbing pieces of a puzzle that included Stuart’s distress over his wife’s pregnancy, his romantic interest in a coworker, and life insurance fraud. In an account that “builds and grips like a novel” (Kirkus Reviews), New York Times journalist Joe Sharkey delivers “a picture of a man consumed by naked ambition, unwilling to let anyone or anything get in his way” (Library Journal). Revised and updated, this ebook also includes photos and a new epilogue by the author.

The “uncommonly trenchant account of the only known FBI agent to confess to murder” (Kirkus Reviews). When rookie FBI agent Mark Putnam received his first assignment in 1987, it was the culmination of a lifelong dream, if not the most desirable location. Pikeville, Kentucky, is high in Appalachian coal country, an outpost rife with lawlessness dating back to the Hatfields and McCoys. As a rising star in the bureau, however, Putnam soon was cultivating paid informants and busting drug rings and bank robbers. But when one informant fell in love with him, passion and duty would collide with tragic results. A coal miner’s daughter, Susan Smith was a young, attractive, struggling single mother. She was also a drug user sometimes described as a con artist, thief, and professional liar. Ultimately, Putnam gave in to Smith’s relentless pursuit. But when he ended the affair, she waged a campaign of vengeance that threatened to destroy him. When at last she confronted him with a shocking announcement, a violent scuffle ensued, and Putnam, in a burst of uncontrolled rage, fatally strangled her. Though he had everything necessary to get away with murder—a spotless reputation, a victim with multiple enemies, and the protection of the bureau’s impenetrable shield—his conscience wouldn’t allow it. Tormented by a year of guilt and deception, Putnam finally led authorities to Smith’s remains. This is the story of what happened before, during, and after his startling confession—an account that “should take its place on the dark shelf of the best American true crime” (Newsday). Revised and updated, this ebook also includes photos and a new epilogue by the author.

This collection by a New York Times journalist gathers three horrifying true accounts of crimes of passion, ambition, and fear. Author Joe Sharkey delivers three gripping accounts of betrayal and murder in this compelling American true crime collection. Above Suspicion: Soon to be a major motion picture starring Emilia Clarke and Jack Huston, this true account tells the story of the only FBI agent to confess to murder. Assigned to Pikeville, Kentucky, rookie Mike Putnam cultivated paid informants and busted drug rings and bank robbers. But when one informant fell in love with the bureau’s rising star, their passionate affair ended with murder. Deadly Greed: On October 23, 1989, Charles Stuart reported that he and his seven-months-pregnant wife, Carol, had been robbed and shot by a black male. By the time police arrived, Carol was dead, and soon the baby was lost as well. Stuart then identified a suspect: Willie Bennett. The attack incited a furor during a time of heightened racial tension in the community. But even more appalling, Stuart’s story was a hoax—he was the true killer. Death Sentence: John List was working as the vice president of a Jersey City bank and had moved his mother, wife, and three teenage children into a nineteen-room mansion in Westfield, New Jersey when he lost his job and everything changed. Fearing financial ruin and the corruption of his children’s souls by the free-spirited 1970s, he came up with a terrifying solution: He would shoot his entire family and vanish, taking on a new life and a new identity.

The true story of the Sydney River McDonald’s massacre, a botched robbery that would become the most sensational murder case in Canadian history. It started with a broken conveyor belt. When the mechanical malfunction brought eighteen-year-old McDonald’s employee Derek Wood into the restaurant’s back room, he saw the safe and got a dangerous idea. It would be so easy to prop the back door open, allowing two friends to sneak inside and steal the money. Wood assumed there was at least $200,000 in the cashbox—an incredible haul for just a few minutes’ work—but things would not go according to plan. The robbery went wrong from the start, and within minutes, a fast-food restaurant in the wilds of Nova Scotia was turned into a bloodbath. Wood and his accomplices attacked the employees, killing three instantly and leaving the fourth for dead. In the safe, where they had expected to find a fortune, there was barely $2,000. They fled the scene, instigating a manhunt that would captivate the nation. In the tradition of In Cold Blood and The Onion Field, this stunning work of true crime tells the story of the small-town murder that shocked a nation. Phonse Jessome brings a trained journalist’s eye to the case, which remains one of the most horrifying incidents of suburban violence in recent history.

It's 1933 and Prohibition has given rise to the American gangster--now infamous names like Bonnie and Clyde and John Dillinger. Bank robberies at gunpoint are commonplace and kidnapping for ransom is the scourge of a lawless nation. With local cops unauthorized to cross state lines in pursuit and no national police force, safety for kidnappers is just a short trip on back roads they know well from their bootlegging days. Gangster George "Machine Gun" Kelly and his wife, Kathryn, are some of the most celebrated criminals of the Great Depression. With gin-running operations facing extinction and bank vaults with dwindling stores of cash, Kelly sets his sights on the easy-money racket of kidnapping. His target: rich oilman, Charles Urschel. Enter J. Edgar Hoover, a desperate Justice Department bureaucrat who badly needs a successful prosecution to impress the new administration and save his job. Hoover's agents are given the sole authority to chase kidnappers across state lines and when Kelly bungles the snatch job, Hoover senses his big opportunity. What follows is a thrilling 20,000 mile chase over the back roads of Depression-era America, crossing 16 state lines, and generating headlines across America along the way--a historical mystery/thriller for the ages. Joe Urschel's The Year of Fear is a thrilling true crime story of gangsters and lawmen and how an obscure federal bureaucrat used this now legendary kidnapping case to launch the FBI.

A heist thriller with a dazzling twist in the tail, this film 'The Usual Suspects' has seen its reputation grow until it is now a major cult movie. Ernest Larsen examines the film's sophistcated narrative structure and the new spin it puts on an old genre.